What I Learned At The Sarah Palin Rally Before They Threw Me Out!

On Saturday I went to Carson, California, to attend a rally for Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. For those who aren't familiar with the city of Carson, it's approximately 19 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. In the 2004 Presidential election, Carson, which had a population of just under 90,000, donated three times as much money to George W. Bush than to John Kerry. This year, for the 2008 elections, residents of Carson have given slightly more to Republican candidates than to Democrats by a slim margin of $3,000. Thus the gap between Republicans and Democrats in Carson has narrowed.

The Palin rally, which you may have seen on TV or You Tube, was held at the Home Depot ADT Tennis Stadium. Because of the surprising popularity of Mrs. Palin and easy access to free tickets, all 20,000 stadium seats, plus an overflow area were filled. I got a handful of tickets, recruited my friend Rebecca Tobias, Program Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics, and trekked on out to Carson. We scored ground level seats in the stadium from which I watched, listened and steadily bristled. When I could no longer stomach Palin's lies and distortions, I jumped up, and at the top of my lungs, repeatedly called Palin a L-I-A-R! I was shouted down in Palinese by her 20,000 admirers, then escorted out by security. I took extra time as I climbed the steps from the ground up to the top just to keep her admirers shouting. The few minute reprieve from Palin's lies was to me a righteous diversion.

When I neared the top of the steps I turned back to Mrs. Palin and continued to call her a L-I-A-R, until I was ushered out the door. Thankfully my escorts showed me the utmost respect for they privately shared my feelings. They're working folk. They see through Mrs. Palin. But that's just the start of this story.

You see, I'd gone to this event for a reason. Not to see Sarah Palin. I already knew who she was. I went to see the Palinettes - the supporters of this unspectacular woman who had so readily been won over. I wanted to meet them and speak with them and understand their attachment to this lowest common denominator politician - a woman so unqualified for Vice President that her running mate should be imprisoned for treason. As a patriot and voter, I disagree categorically with the choice of Sarah Palin. I seek knowledge, experience, maturity, integrity, charity, clarity, humanity, intellectual curiosity, and wisdom from the leaders I select. Since Palin, in my opinion, exhibits none of these traits, I wanted to assess her supporters' rationale (or rationality).

What I witnessed was thoroughly alarming. Among this enraptured crowd of 20,000 was a frightening mix of Christian zealots, anti-abortion fanatics, and mostly white suburban women and men reconnecting with their high school mentality. Bright colored pom-poms were everywhere - as if Sarah Palin were head cheerleader, the women were on her squad, and the men were the football heroes. Sarah Palin, the quintessential 4ever-school-girl had revitalized their youth and saved them from adulthood. Check out the red pom-pom "hair" on the man behind Palin. If that isn't straight out of high school, what is?

Photo by Linda Milazzo

Want further proof of pom-pom Palin? Try this as an experiment. Put on an audio of a Sarah Palin speech. Close your eyes and listen. What you'll hear is the high pitched voice of a teenage girl, speaking in circular reasoning, incomplete sentences, and juvenile idioms. No sophistication. No leadership. No wisdom. Just the sound of a snarky school girl. Sarah Palin is America's greatest nightmare. Sarah Palin is George W. Bush in a dress.

Of course there are those who might say that my own outburst toward Sarah Palin was juvenile - to which I'd respond with a resounding "no," because it's never juvenile to speak truth to ignorance. To say nothing would be derelict. Certainly, I'd be naive to think that calling Palin a L-I-A-R would make her admirers believe me. But to sit quietly while Palin accused Obama of being: "someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists [Bill Ayers] who would target their own country" would make me complicit in the group-think that promotes a lie to a truth. I'd rather be thrown out for the truth than group-hugged for a lie.

While Palin's peevishness is appalling, it pales in comparison to the dangerous ideology that she and her followers share. By unleashing Sarah Palin, John McCain has reinvigorated the anti-choice/anti-woman/anti-reproductive rights fanatics, who not long ago were at the forefront of domestic terror. Interesting that Palin insinuates Obama when referring to: "terrorists who would target their own country" when it's those who share her ideology who have committed heinous domestic crimes. Let us not forget the health-care workers who were murdered by anti-choice radicals who share Palin's no exceptions for abortion beliefs. Let us not forget the women and family clinics that were bombed. Let us not forget Eric Rudolph - the anti-abortion terrorist who killed two people and injured 100 others during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. The same Eric Rudolph who bombed abortion clinics that killed even more people. The same Eric Rudolph who sadistically attacked a gay bar. Let us not forget that the Sarah Palin wing of anti-choice fanaticism victimized America for years, committing crime after heinous crime. What John McCain has unleashed on America with his choice of Sarah Palin is an outright invitation to these cults to wreak havoc all over again.

On Saturday I got a taste of this anti-choice fanaticism as Palin's zealots shouted "baby killers" at the pro-Obama activists outside. I saw it first hand with the anti-choice tirades looped again and again by one Palin follower after another. This is their mission - their single issue cause - and Sarah Palin has given it life. With the economy spiraling downward, the world at war, the planet over-heating, and continents dying from famine and disease, Sarah Palin's followers are driven by one issue only - the total end of abortion.

Yes, the silly Palin chatter of "she's one of us 'cause she talks like us and is a regular person" was also spun at Saturday's event. As was propaganda about Obama "getting paid undercover by some other country" and "doubt that Obama was really born in Hawaii because his birth certificate can't be found." Sadly this level of ignorance exists even in Southern California. In fact, it was so illogically mind-boggling that I audio-taped it as proof.

The perilous stupidity that I witnessed on Saturday made me believe more than ever that under no circumstances should John McCain and Sarah Palin be elected. In fact, their election loss must be so severe that Sarah Palin can never be resurrected for a future campaign. Furthermore, John McCain's blatant disregard for the safety and stability of this nation by choosing Sarah Palin should cost him his Arizona Senate seat and force him from office forever.

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Comments

[henzell]

Of the 20,000 people at the rally, one cannot but help be reminded of the comment that there is no overestimating the intelligence of the american people....

[fundamentaloftheeconomy]

Beautifully written Linda, will you marry me?

[cmarmonhalm]

I saw clips of this "rally" last night and it terrified me. People shouting "terrorist" and "kill him" convinced me that these rallies are meant to incite the mob. Palin and McCain are looking to cash in on people's anger, fear and hatred no matter how irrational.

I truly hope that there are enough forward thinking people in this country to shut McCain and Palin down for good. However, it may already be too late to stop the hatred that these two have inflamed.

[teetx]

I believe McCain/Palin will be the end of the Republican party as we've known it. Rational, intelligent Republicans, and there must be some somewhere, need to dissociate themselves from this campaign as quickly as possible. Their rallies are proof-positive that the current Republican party is not the party of values as they would have us believe, but increasingly the party of intolerance.

[mercury613]

Fabulous post. Thank you! And thanks for calling out Sarah Palin for what she really is.

[Betty Jean]

On November 5th, McCain will go back to the Senate until the next election and he will then be defeated. The people of Alaska will definitely sit Palin down at the next election! Nobody wants to be represented by fear mongers and liars!

[trailerparktrash]

Wow...you've sure got more chutzpah than I do! Kudos to you. But, you can be assured that Palin will be back with a vengeance in 2012. The GOP always resurrects its losers to run another day--i.e., Nixon, Reagan. Palin has been annointed as the new Reagan, so she isn't going to disappear. I'm afraid we're going to have to listen to this crap all over again. And Palin will have that much more power behind her as a result of this run for the White House. Lord help us...

[Marefur]

Although, if that were actually to happen, I take some (cold) comfort in my belief that the other Republicans running against her in the primary will absolutely SKEWER her. I think we can count on them for that, and every dirty, dirty-by-a­ssociation­, or filthy accusation will be brought forth (as they are already doing now post-Obama win).

[jackybird]

It is tempting to call her "unspectacular" but anyone who can draw and motivate crowds like this needs to be taken very seriously. We may be watching the rise of a demagogue who may be more dangerous if McCain looses than if he wins. I doubt after this taste of power she will go quietly back to Alaska if he looses.

[dignityandhonor]

Great post. I don't know if anyone else caught this last night but at the McCain rally, someone shouted "terrorist" while McCain was speaking and, for a brief moment, I swore I saw a look of alarm on McCain's face. I almost feel more pity for McCain at this point in the cycle since he seems out of his element resorting to personal attacks.
The wheels have truly come off the McCain/Palin "straight jacket" express.

[jackie4444]

The closer we get to November 4th, the more compelling the answer to the question of whether ordinary Americans will LITERALLY 'take to the streets' and STAY THERE if this election is 'stolen' in the manner of 2000 and 2004 - machine fraud, blocking voters, long lines, misinformation sent on polling places or voter status, results that reverse themselves around 2 AM after everyone has
gone to bed, etc.

If McCain continues his accelerating downward spiral, it seems to me there are only two alternatives left: (1) another 'national security incident, with no guarantee it would flip the odds to McCain given
his deplorable showing on virtually everything'; (2) fraud.

If No. 2 is chosen, will there be any more repercussions than there were the last two times (2000 and 2004) when the presidential office was stolen? Hard to say and hard to understand why that isn't
more being talked about because its clearly the greatest risk to an Obama 'loss'.

Gore held out awhile and likely the nation would have supported him if he had held out even longer.
Never again, did we say? Well...no...given Kerry the Cave-In King's lightening-fast bow-out in the
face of the ongoing Ohio debaucle in 2004.

It would be dumb to assume something that's worked twice in a row won't be used this time around.
So half of it is Obama - is he a Gore or a Kerry or stronger than both? And the other half is us.

[YesWeCanada]

Hate and loathing is extremely ugly and frightening to have to witness as a civil society. But I feel it is necessary to shine a light on what hides in the dark before society can move forward. Just think off the ugliness of the racial tensions of the 60%. The crazy anti-abortion terrorists of the 70’s and 80’s. The anti gay rhetoric of the 90’s. All of these progressive movements share a troubled past that matches the great progress that has been made.

Thus I call on my like minded progressives like Linda. Speak out, call a spade a spade. Shine a light on the hatred and loathsome backwards thinking of these despicable people. Appeal to like minded progressives and moderates to condemn the GOP for encouraging these hateful people. Fear not, for they are the ones that live in fear. It is their ideas and causes that can not survive in a modern society. Embrace the fight for we know that we are on the side of history and that which is right.

[beezusjesus]

Thank you, you are so brave!

[Charmed]

To be honest she's making me very nervous because each day the venom gets worst and her crowds are reacting like they are at a Klan rally. It's a feeling of wanting to pull your kid out of school because of riots.

[stepintime]

Charmed, you couldn't have said it better! Thank you! I am equally, if not more horrified that some man even yelled out, amidst the boos for Obama, "Kill Him." Where is the FBI when you need them and why is it still ok for Palin to incite this kind of hateful, raciest, behavior?

[SamThornton]

Linda, your account mirrors my own observations. While the pieces for an Obama and Democratic landslide seem to be coming together, a question the inflammatory rhetoric of Palin, McCain and McCain's surrogates raises is the is the ideological direction the Republican Party will take after their November defeat.

It doesn't take an insider to predict that, post election, the wing of the Republican Party represented by Palin will likely develop a "stab-in-the-back" theory to explain their losses, blaming the usual suspects while absolving themselves of all responsibility. If it's accompanied by an hysterical eliminationist rhetoric that targets opponents (as I'm predicting), we may be heading into a rough patch.

[Palmz]

"John McCain's blatant disregard for the safety and stability of this nation by choosing Sarah Palin should cost him his Arizona Senate seat and force him from office forever."

You nailed it!